It's Been a Long, Long Time
by ravenclawprincess95
Summary: Inspired by the final scene of Endgame. Steve finally got to go home. Steve and Peggy.


AN: So This is my warning, MAJOR ENDGAME SPOILERS. This is my first foray into Avengers fanfiction, but I just got this in my head as I was drving home from endgame, and I needed it out. Also, the song that was playing during their dance was It's Been a Long, Long Time by Kitty Kallen. It was a song that came out after Steve would have gone down in the ice, but it was a song that many people associate with the war being over and the soldiers coming home. I had it playing the entire time I wrote this, and I do recomend listening to it with this story.

disclaimer: All characters are the property of Marvel.

* * *

Spring 1949

Los Angeles, CA

"I'm off for the day, Daniel," Agent Peggy Carter said poking her head in the office of Daniel Sousa.

"Alright Peggy." Sousa looked up from the file he was looking over. "Hey, try to have some fun tonight. Don't spend it all looking over case files."

Peggy smiled wistfully. "You know I won't do that. But you can have fun for me." She waved, and then turned and left the building.

Peggy walked down the street, to the bus stop. Her life was, oddly enough she thought, routine by now. She took the bus to the SSR offices at 8, arrived by 8:45, did her case work, going out and doing real investigations if she had to, and then at 5:30 she left the office to catch the bus at 5:45. From there, she was home by 6:30, made herself a small dinner, reviewed notes from the day, and listened to the radio. By 9:00 she was ready for bed. Occasionally she would deviate from this routine by having dinner with Howard Stark, or visiting Jarvis and his wife Anna, but for the most part, her life remained the same.

But today, today had been going badly all day. First, she had overslept, so she had missed her bus, making her late for work. Then her notes from the day before had somehow accidentally been put through the paper shredder so she'd had to spend all day trying to redo them. And because she was late to work, and with all the makeup notes she'd had to do, she had opted to stay till the next bus was scheduled to arrive.

Peggy stepped into the bus when it arrived, letting out a small sigh, as something was right for the first time all day. She took a seat next to one of the windows toward the front, and leaned her head against the cool glass. Peggy tried her best to relax, reminding herself that there was nothing she could do about her earlier troubles, only try to salvage her night.

Finally, the bus pulled up to her street, and she got off, walked down the street digging in her purse for her keys, and walked up the short path to the front porch. She unlocked the door, and let herself in. She shut the door behind her and she sagged back against it eyes closed. She stayed like that for a moment before she pushed herself up. Placing her bag on a table in the living room, she walked into her small kitchen, grabbed the kettle from the stove and stuck it under the sink, turning on the water and filling the kettle.

Once it was full, Peggy put the kettle back on the stove, and was about to turn the gas on, when suddenly there was a knock on her door. She wasn't expecting anyone, Howard was out of the country, and had taken Jarvis with him. Daniel never popped in, he'd always call if he was going come round, as would anyone else she knew. She stayed still for a moment, and the person knocked again. Peggy took her hand off the gas, and slowly started moving towards the living room. She reached into her bag and pulled out her gun. Checking that the safety was off, she made her way to the front door, gun hidden behind her back.

Peggy swung the door open and screamed. She put the gun in front of her and backed up, "This isn't real, this isn't real."

"Peggy, put the gun down, its me." Steve said calmly, hands raised above his head. When Peggy didn't pull the trigger, he stepped in the house, lowered one hand to close the door, and put it back up.

Peggy shook her head, tears starting to come down her face. "No, this is some cruel trick. Steve Rogers went down over the Atlantic in 1945. He's dead. You're not real."

Steve smiled sadly. "I did go down, in the plane that Schmidt owned, with the tesseract. But I was found in 2011."

"You're mad," Peggy interrupted. "2011? This is 1949, did you honestly expect me to fall for that?"

"It's a lot to believe, but it's all true." Steve insisted. "I was found by agents of SHIELD, an organization you found in the 70's with Howard Stark, frozen, in the same plane I went down in. I spent 12 years living in the 21st century, fighting their fights, never fitting in and always wanting to come home from war to you. But it wasn't possible until," Steve's voice cracked a little. He paused took a breath and then continued, "until Tony Stark, Howard's son, cracked the code on time travel. I was given a job to do, and I finished it, but I had just enough juice to come back and find you, so I did. I broke the only thing that could take me back to 2023, so I could stay here."

Peggy stared at him. "You're asking me to believe this impossible story. I can't. Howard doesn't have any children, and god knows he isn't serious enough or grounded enough to start anything with me." She shook her head. Still pointing the gun at him, she started backing up into her living room. "I don't know who you are, or what organization you're with, but I'm calling the SSR to bring you in."

Steve lowered his arms and reached into his jacket. "I'm not getting a gun, I'm going to prove that I'm telling the truth." He pulled out a small device. "When I went into the ocean, I was carrying my compass with me. Inside it, I had your picture taped to it. The compass was lost with me." He held his hand out. "I've always had it with me." He popped the compass open, and there staring back at Peggy, was the photo she had seen in the old war reel, of herself, on Steve's old compass.

Peggy took in a sharp breath and sank to the floor, gun falling, shaking as sobs came out. "I'm dreaming again, I know I am. I'm going to wake up and this will have all been some fantastic dream, but you'll still be dead," she cried.

Steve dropped to his knees in front of her, eyes glistening, and pulled her into his arms. "I am real, Peg. I'm not going anywhere ever again. My war is done, and all I want to do is come home home, and have the band play that slow song for us, so we can have that dance."

The pair stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Peggy slowly pulled back, and put her hand up to Steve's face, tracing it. "What are you doing?" He questioned.

"You said you fought fights that were other people's, I'm just making sure you're not hurt." She smiled. Her hand slipped down to his neck and she lifted her other hand pushing the jacket off his shoulders. She stood, and took his jacket and hung it on the coatrack by the front door, then walked over to her radio and switched it on.

Turning back to look at him, still on the floor just watching her, she held her hand out to him. "You're four years late to that dance you promised me you know."

Steve got up slowly from the floor. Taking the hand she held out in his, and wrapping his other arm around her, pulling her closer, they started to sway as Kitty Kallen crooned her simple song to them. "Then let me spend the rest of my life making it up to you."


End file.
